BRITS are making it big across the pond in TV, sport, comedy, movies and film.
CAROLINE IGGULDEN gives you the lowdown on the invasion and profiles some of the stars flying the flag for Britain in the United States.
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Stateside success ... Amy Winehouse
AMY WINEHOUSE
BEEHIVE-HAIRED singer Amy won big at this year’s Brit awards but she has also been going down a storm in the States.
Amy, 23, scored the highest new entry by a British female artist in the history of the US chart when her album Back To Black shot in at a soaring No7.
Even though that record only stood for one week before Joss Stone bettered it, the success saw Amy invited on to TV’s David Letterman show, a big boost to her career in America.
Amy seems to like life Stateside so much, she even chose to get hitched over there last week – to boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil.
Hassan Choudhury, vice-president of international marketing at Universal Music UK, tried to account for Americans’ love of the troubled singer.
He said: “There’s no one thing that accounts for Amy’s success in America.
“There is the visual side, combined with all of the press interest in her – combined with the fact that she has made a great record.”
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LUOL DENGLUOL DENG
BASKETBALL player Luol, 22, stands shoulder to shoulder with his American counterparts.
Earlier this year, the 6ft 9in Chicago Bulls slam-dunker won the NBA’s sportsmanship award, voted for by his fellow players.
Sudanese-born Luol arrived in Britain when he was just eight, his family successfully claiming political asylum as they were avoiding a civil war in their home country. The budding sportsman grew up in Croydon, Surrey, but at 14, he moved to New Jersey in America to play high-school basketball.
As a lad, football had been Luol’s passion and he grew up supporting Arsenal.
He said: “I really thought I was going to be a footballer. I loved football, but with my body, I’m better off playing basketball.”
Despite becoming a star in the US, Luol, currently negotiating a new £30million contract with the Chicago Bulls, is still flying the flag for Britain.
Last year, he was naturalised as a British citizen and says his UK passport is one of his most treasured possessions.
He is now eligible to play for the British national side.
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DAN WHELDON
THE 28-year-old motor-racing driver can walk down any UK street unrecognised – but in America he is a pin-up.
We all know that the Yanks love winners, which is why they have taken to Dan so well.
Since turning his back on Europe to find fame and fortune in the States in 1999, Dan, from Milton Keynes, has left his rivals for dust. In 2005, he became only the third Brit to win the Indianapolis 500 – and the first since Graham Hill in 1966. He also won the Indy Racing League that season and broke the record for the most points scored and the most money – 3,721,005 dollars – won in a season.
Dan, who lives in Florida, said: “The thing I’ve learnt is that if you win a lot, people are going to pay you attention.”
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LILY ALLEN
LOUDMOUTHED Lily’s album Alright, Still has been in the American Billboard Top 100 for THREE MONTHS.
The internet has played a part in Lily’s US success.
In the past, artists were heavily reliant on MTV to spread their music, but singers such as Lily had already built up a grass-roots fan base on MySpace.
Lily, 22, also embarked on a huge US promotional tour and cannily made her videos available on the internet via YouTube.
Top US mag Entertainment Weekly named her debut album as one of the top ten albums of 2006 even before it was released Stateside.
As soon as MTV realised Lily’s talent, they put Smile on time after time and, in January, named Lily as their Discover And Download artist of the month.
Lily doesn’t seem too worried about the American market though. She said: “Is it really important to break America? If it is, I have to write my life off for the next nine months, playing the same gig, answering the same questions to different journalists and such.”
---------------------
ASHLEY JENSEN
WHEN Ashley was named Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards in 2005, she celebrated with fish and chips from a nearby van.
Back then, the unassuming Scottish actress was known as Ricky Gervais’s lowly sidekick in Extras – but since she became the darling of Tinsel Town, the world has seen her talents in a whole new light.
After signing with Samuel L Jackson’s Hollywood agent (he was a guest on Extras), she has taken the US by storm.
In a long career mirroring her on-screen character in Extras, Ashley, 37, had bit parts here in The Bill, Silent Witness, Casualty and EastEnders.
But she finally cracked it in America with a major role in the hit series Ugly Betty. She has now sold her London flat and moved to Los Angeles.
Ashley, originally from Annan, said: “I do sometimes look at myself and think this wee Scottish person from Annan’s been superimposed on a glossy American thing.
“I’m a little bit like, ‘How did I get there?’”
-------------------------
RICKY GERVAIS
CURRENTLY house-hunting in New York, Ricky’s success with The Office and Extras has paved the way for a glittering Hollywood career.
The US version of The Office is a huge success, running for more than 50 episodes, long outlasting the original, pulling in high rating figures and picking up American TV’s top award, an Emmy, for best sitcom.
Ricky was also given the rare honour of being asked to write an episode of The Simpsons, and voiced the character of Charles in it.
The episode was the highest rated in Sky One’s history.
The 45-year-old comic has also had his first big Hollywood movie role, in Night At The Museum, but it is likely to be just the first of many.
---------------------
CAT DEELEY
THE Brummie telly host has become the golden girl of American TV almost overnight.
The 30-year-old presenter, who moved to the States in 2006, really is the Cat that got the cream, landing not just one plum TV job but THREE.
Ant and Dec’s former sidekick has just started hosting her second series of hit reality show So You Think You Can Dance, for which she is being paid a reported £2million.
She landed the job by fluke when Nigel Lythgoe, “Nasty Nigel” from Popstars, asked her to stand in when the original presenter fell pregnant.
Nowadays, Cat also hosts segments on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno and she is the LA correspondent for Good Morning America.
And as if that weren’t enough, she also presents American Idol for British TV.
Cat said: “There’s a part of me that loves the American enthusiasm.
“If you’re a success, they’ll run and run with you. But don’t get me wrong, if you’re not successful, they’ll drop you like a hot potato.”
-----------------------
SIMON COWELL
MR NASTY was an instant hit in the US when he introduced American TV audiences to his tough-talking style on talent show Pop Idol.
Cowell, 47, immediately decided to quit the UK and move to the USA – splashing out on a new Beverly Hills home worth a reported £5million with his long-term partner Terri Seymour.
The move is part of a bid to launch a US version of X Factor. He says: “X Factor has been an incredible success. But America is where the big money is, if the show sells there, then it’ll be amazing.”
Cowell has already judged the US market well. In 2002, a year after he made the headlines with Pop Idol on home turf, Cowell’s cutting comments to contestants on American Idol created massive media attention.
In 2006, he signed a record-breaking deal when he agreed to remain as a judge on American Idol, earning £20million per series in a five-year deal.
His TV shows Got Talent and American Inventor, a US take on Dragons’ Den.
thesun.co.uk
CAROLINE IGGULDEN gives you the lowdown on the invasion and profiles some of the stars flying the flag for Britain in the United States.
******************************************
Stateside success ... Amy Winehouse
AMY WINEHOUSE
BEEHIVE-HAIRED singer Amy won big at this year’s Brit awards but she has also been going down a storm in the States.
Amy, 23, scored the highest new entry by a British female artist in the history of the US chart when her album Back To Black shot in at a soaring No7.
Even though that record only stood for one week before Joss Stone bettered it, the success saw Amy invited on to TV’s David Letterman show, a big boost to her career in America.
Amy seems to like life Stateside so much, she even chose to get hitched over there last week – to boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil.
Hassan Choudhury, vice-president of international marketing at Universal Music UK, tried to account for Americans’ love of the troubled singer.
He said: “There’s no one thing that accounts for Amy’s success in America.
“There is the visual side, combined with all of the press interest in her – combined with the fact that she has made a great record.”
----------------------------------
LUOL DENGLUOL DENG
BASKETBALL player Luol, 22, stands shoulder to shoulder with his American counterparts.
Earlier this year, the 6ft 9in Chicago Bulls slam-dunker won the NBA’s sportsmanship award, voted for by his fellow players.
Sudanese-born Luol arrived in Britain when he was just eight, his family successfully claiming political asylum as they were avoiding a civil war in their home country. The budding sportsman grew up in Croydon, Surrey, but at 14, he moved to New Jersey in America to play high-school basketball.
As a lad, football had been Luol’s passion and he grew up supporting Arsenal.
He said: “I really thought I was going to be a footballer. I loved football, but with my body, I’m better off playing basketball.”
Despite becoming a star in the US, Luol, currently negotiating a new £30million contract with the Chicago Bulls, is still flying the flag for Britain.
Last year, he was naturalised as a British citizen and says his UK passport is one of his most treasured possessions.
He is now eligible to play for the British national side.
-------------------------
DAN WHELDON
THE 28-year-old motor-racing driver can walk down any UK street unrecognised – but in America he is a pin-up.
We all know that the Yanks love winners, which is why they have taken to Dan so well.
Since turning his back on Europe to find fame and fortune in the States in 1999, Dan, from Milton Keynes, has left his rivals for dust. In 2005, he became only the third Brit to win the Indianapolis 500 – and the first since Graham Hill in 1966. He also won the Indy Racing League that season and broke the record for the most points scored and the most money – 3,721,005 dollars – won in a season.
Dan, who lives in Florida, said: “The thing I’ve learnt is that if you win a lot, people are going to pay you attention.”
-------------------------
LILY ALLEN
LOUDMOUTHED Lily’s album Alright, Still has been in the American Billboard Top 100 for THREE MONTHS.
The internet has played a part in Lily’s US success.
In the past, artists were heavily reliant on MTV to spread their music, but singers such as Lily had already built up a grass-roots fan base on MySpace.
Lily, 22, also embarked on a huge US promotional tour and cannily made her videos available on the internet via YouTube.
Top US mag Entertainment Weekly named her debut album as one of the top ten albums of 2006 even before it was released Stateside.
As soon as MTV realised Lily’s talent, they put Smile on time after time and, in January, named Lily as their Discover And Download artist of the month.
Lily doesn’t seem too worried about the American market though. She said: “Is it really important to break America? If it is, I have to write my life off for the next nine months, playing the same gig, answering the same questions to different journalists and such.”
---------------------
ASHLEY JENSEN
WHEN Ashley was named Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards in 2005, she celebrated with fish and chips from a nearby van.
Back then, the unassuming Scottish actress was known as Ricky Gervais’s lowly sidekick in Extras – but since she became the darling of Tinsel Town, the world has seen her talents in a whole new light.
After signing with Samuel L Jackson’s Hollywood agent (he was a guest on Extras), she has taken the US by storm.
In a long career mirroring her on-screen character in Extras, Ashley, 37, had bit parts here in The Bill, Silent Witness, Casualty and EastEnders.
But she finally cracked it in America with a major role in the hit series Ugly Betty. She has now sold her London flat and moved to Los Angeles.
Ashley, originally from Annan, said: “I do sometimes look at myself and think this wee Scottish person from Annan’s been superimposed on a glossy American thing.
“I’m a little bit like, ‘How did I get there?’”
-------------------------
RICKY GERVAIS
CURRENTLY house-hunting in New York, Ricky’s success with The Office and Extras has paved the way for a glittering Hollywood career.
The US version of The Office is a huge success, running for more than 50 episodes, long outlasting the original, pulling in high rating figures and picking up American TV’s top award, an Emmy, for best sitcom.
Ricky was also given the rare honour of being asked to write an episode of The Simpsons, and voiced the character of Charles in it.
The episode was the highest rated in Sky One’s history.
The 45-year-old comic has also had his first big Hollywood movie role, in Night At The Museum, but it is likely to be just the first of many.
---------------------
CAT DEELEY
THE Brummie telly host has become the golden girl of American TV almost overnight.
The 30-year-old presenter, who moved to the States in 2006, really is the Cat that got the cream, landing not just one plum TV job but THREE.
Ant and Dec’s former sidekick has just started hosting her second series of hit reality show So You Think You Can Dance, for which she is being paid a reported £2million.
She landed the job by fluke when Nigel Lythgoe, “Nasty Nigel” from Popstars, asked her to stand in when the original presenter fell pregnant.
Nowadays, Cat also hosts segments on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno and she is the LA correspondent for Good Morning America.
And as if that weren’t enough, she also presents American Idol for British TV.
Cat said: “There’s a part of me that loves the American enthusiasm.
“If you’re a success, they’ll run and run with you. But don’t get me wrong, if you’re not successful, they’ll drop you like a hot potato.”
-----------------------
SIMON COWELL
MR NASTY was an instant hit in the US when he introduced American TV audiences to his tough-talking style on talent show Pop Idol.
Cowell, 47, immediately decided to quit the UK and move to the USA – splashing out on a new Beverly Hills home worth a reported £5million with his long-term partner Terri Seymour.
The move is part of a bid to launch a US version of X Factor. He says: “X Factor has been an incredible success. But America is where the big money is, if the show sells there, then it’ll be amazing.”
Cowell has already judged the US market well. In 2002, a year after he made the headlines with Pop Idol on home turf, Cowell’s cutting comments to contestants on American Idol created massive media attention.
In 2006, he signed a record-breaking deal when he agreed to remain as a judge on American Idol, earning £20million per series in a five-year deal.
His TV shows Got Talent and American Inventor, a US take on Dragons’ Den.
thesun.co.uk
